Description

This companion offers an overview of Lyndon B. Johnson's life,presidency, and legacy, as well as a detailed look at the centralarguments and scholarly debates from his term in office.

Explores the legacy of Johnson and the historical significanceof his years as president

Covers the full range of topics, from the social and civilrights reforms of the Great Society to the increased Americaninvolvement in Vietnam

Incorporates the dramatic new evidence that has come to lightthrough the release of around 8,000 phone conversations andmeetings that Johnson secretly recorded as President

About the author

Mitchell B. Lerner is Associate Professor of History at the Ohio State University and the Mershon Center for International Security Studies. He has held the Mary Ball Washington Distinguished Fulbright Chair at University College-Dublin, and been an officer of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. He is also Director of Ohio State's Institute for Korea Studies. He is the author of The Pueblo Incident: A Spy Ship and the Failure of American Foreign Policy (2002), which won the John Lyman Book Award, and editor of Looking Back at LBJ (2005).

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The towering figure who sought to transform America into a "Great Society" but whose ambitions and presidency collapsed in the tragedy of the Vietnam War

Few figures in American history are as compelling and complex as Lyndon Baines Johnson, who established himself as the master of the U.S. Senate in the 1950s and succeeded John F. Kennedy in the White House after Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963.

Charles Peters, a keen observer of Washington politics for more than five decades, tells the story of Johnson's presidency as the tale of an immensely talented politician driven by ambition and desire. As part of the Kennedy-Johnson administration from 1961 to 1968, Peters knew key players, including Johnson's aides, giving him inside knowledge of the legislative wizardry that led to historic triumphs like the Voting Rights Act and the personal insecurities that led to the tragedy of Vietnam.

Peters's experiences have given him unique insight into the poisonous rivalry between Johnson and Robert F. Kennedy, showing how their misunderstanding of each other exacerbated Johnson's self-doubt and led him into the morass of Vietnam, which crippled his presidency and finally drove this larger-than-life man from the office that was his lifelong ambition.

The long era of liberal reform that began with the Progressive movement of the early twentieth century and continued with the New Deal, culminated in the 1960s with Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. Inspired by the example of his mentor, Franklin Roosevelt, Johnson sought to extend the agenda of the New Deal beyond the realm of economic security to civil rights, housing, education, and health care. In the end, however, his bold ambitions for a Great Society, initiated against the backdrop of an increasingly costly and divisive war, fueled a conservative backlash and undermined faith in liberalism itself. In this volume of original essays, a distinguished group of scholars and activists reassess the mixed legacy of this third major reform period of the last century. They examine not only the policies and programs that were part of LBJ's Great Society, but also the underlying ideological and political shifts that changed the nature of liberalism. Some of the essays focus on Lyndon Johnson himself and the institution of the modern presidency, others on specific reform measures, and still others on the impact of these initiatives in the decades that followed. contributors agree that the Great Society represented an important chapter in the story of the American republic and its ongoing struggle to reconcile the power of the state with the rights of individuals-a struggle that has continued into the twenty-first century.

This companion offers an overview of Richard M. Nixon’s life,presidency, and legacy, as well as a detailed look at the evolutionand current state, of Nixon scholarship.

Examines the central arguments and scholarly debates thatsurround his term in officeExplores Nixon’s legacy and the historical significanceof his years as presidentCovers the full range of topics, from his campaigns forCongress, to his career as Vice-President, to his presidency andWatergateMakes extensive use of the recent paper and electronic releasesfrom the Nixon Presidential Materials Project

In the history of the United States, few periods could more justly be regarded as the best and worst of times than the Kennedy-Johnson era. The arrival of John F. Kennedy in the White House in 1961 unleashed an unprecedented wave of hope and optimism in a large segment of the population; a wave that would come crashing down when he was assassinated only a few years later. His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, enjoyed less popularity, but he was one of the most experienced and skilled presidents the country had ever seen, and he promised a Great Society to rival Kennedy's New Frontier. Both presidents were dogged by foreign policy disasters: Kennedy by the Bay of Pigs fiasco, although he came out ahead on the Cuban missile crisis, and Johnson from the backlash of the Vietnam War. The 1960s witnessed unprecedented progress toward racial and sexual equality, but it also played host to race and urban riots. And while impressive advances in the sciences and arts were fueling the American imagination, the counterculture rejected it all. The A to Z of the Kennedy-Johnson Era relates these events and provides extensive political, economic, and social background on this era through a detailed chronology, an introduction, appendixes, a bibliography, and several hundred cross-referenced dictionary entries on important persons, events, institutions, policies, and issues.

A Companion to John F. Kennedy presents a comprehensive collection of historiographical essays addressing the life and administration of the nation’s 35th president.

Features original contributions from leading Kennedy scholars Reassesses Kennedy, his administration, and the era of the New Frontier Reconsiders relevant Kennedy scholarship and points to new avenues of research Considers the major crises faced by Kennedy, along with domestic issues including women’s issues and civil rights

The United States president preserves, protects, and defends the U.S. Constitution. Each presidentÍs term influences events in America and around the world for years to come. This biography introduces young readers to the life of Lyndon Baines Johnson, beginning with his childhood in Stonewall and Johnson City, Texas. Information about JohnsonÍs education at Southwest Texas State TeacherÍs College and his early career as a teacher is discussed. In addition, his family and personal life, as well as his retirement years at the LBJ Ranch, during which he wrote The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency, 1963-1969, and saw the opening of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, is highlighted. Easy-to-read text details JohnsonÍs military service during World War II and his political career as a legislative assistant to Representative Richard M. Kleberg, director of the National Youth Administration in Texas, a congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he was a member of the House Naval Affairs Committee, a member of the U.S. Senate, Democratic whip, Senate minority leader, the youngest Senate majority leader in Senate history, and vice president under President John F. Kennedy. Finally, students will explore key events from Democratic president JohnsonÍs administration, including his rise to the presidency after KennedyÍs assassination, the Civil Rights Act, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the Vietnam War, the Great Society programs, Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, Job Corps, the Voting Rights Act, and JohnsonÍs appointment of Robert C. Weaver, the first African-American head a cabinet department, and Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court justice. Beautiful graphics showcase the primary source documents and photographs. A timeline, fast facts, and sidebars help put essential information at studentsÍ fingertips. In addition, a quick-reference chart provides easy access to facts about every U.S. president. Checkerboard Library is an imprint of ABDO Publishing Company.

An engaging be hind-the-scenes look at the lesser-known forces that fueled the profound social reforms of the 1960s

Provocative and incisive , The Liberal Hour reveals how Washington, so often portrayed as a target of reform in the 1960s, was in fact the era's most effective engine of change. The movements of the 1960s have always drawn the most attention from the decade's chroniclers, but it was in the halls of government-so often the target of protesters' wrath-that the enduring reforms of the era were produced. With nuance and panache, Calvin Mackenzie and Robert Weisbrot present the real-life characters-from giants like JFK and Johnson to lesser-known senators and congressmen-who drove these reforms and were critical to the passage of key legislation. The Liberal Hour offers an engrossing portrait of this extraordinary moment when more progressive legislation was passed than in almost any other era in American history.

With more than a hundred photos, videos, recorded phone conversations, letters, and speeches, this enhanced eBook edition of Indomitable Willbrings to life the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson like never before.Nearly fifty years after being sworn in as president of the United States in the wake of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Lyndon Baines Johnson remains a largely misunderstood figure. His force of personal­ity, mastery of power and the political process, and boundless appetite for social reform made him one of the towering figures of his time. But he was one of the most protean and paradoxical of presidents as well. Because of his flawed nature and inherent contradic­tions, some claimed there were as many LBJs as there were people who knew him.

Intent on fulfilling the promise of America, Johnson launched a revolution in civil rights, federal aid to education, and health care for the elderly and indigent, and expanded immigration and environ­mental protection. A flurry of landmark laws—he would sign an unparalleled 207 during his five years in office, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Elementary and Second­ary Education Act, Head Start, and Medicare—are testaments to the triumph of his will. His War on Poverty alone brought the U.S. poverty rate down from 20 percent to 12 percent, the biggest one-time drop in American history. As president, he was known for getting things done.

At the same time, Johnson’s presidency—and the fulfillment of its own promise—was blighted by his escalation of an ill-fated war in Vietnam that tore at the fabric of America and saw the loss of 36,000 U.S. troops by the end of his term.

Presidential historian Mark K. Updegrove offers an intimate portrait of the endlessly fas­cinating LBJ, his extraordinarily eventful presi­dency, and the turbulent times in which he served. We see Johnson in his many guises and dimen­sions: the virtuoso deal-maker using every inch of his six-foot-three-inch frame to intimidate his subjects, the relentless reformer willing to lose southern Democrats from his party for a generation in his pursuit of civil rights for all Americans, and the embattled commander in chief agonizing over the fate of his “boys” in Vietnam—including his two sons-in-law—yet steadfast in his determination to thwart Communist aggression through war, or an honorable peace.

Through original interviews and personal accounts from White House aides and Cabinet members, political allies and foes, and friends and family—from Robert McNamara to Barry Goldwa­ter, Lady Bird Johnson to Jacqueline Kennedy—as well as through Johnson’s own candid reflections and historic White House telephone conversa­tions, Indomitable Will reveals LBJ as never before. “ For it is through firsthand narrative more than anything,” writes Updegrove, “that Lyndon John­son—who teemed with vitality in his sixty-four years and remains enigmatic nearly four decades after his passing—comes to life.”

Flawed Giant--the monumental concluding volume to Robert Dallek's biography of Lyndon Baines Johnson--provides the most through, engrossing account ever published of Johnson's years in the national spotlight. Drawing on hours of newly released White House tapes and dozens of interviews with people close to the President, Dallek reveals LBJ as a visionary leader who worked his will on Congress like no chief executive before or since, and also displays the depth of his private anguish as he became increasingly ensnared in Vietnam. Writing in a clear, thoughtful, and evenhanded style, Dallek reveals both the greatness and the tangled complexities of one of the most extravagant characters ever to ascend to the White House.

Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) took pride in his heritage and in the Texas Hill Country roots of his pioneer ancestors. He delighted in showing guests the ancestral settlement, and his birthplace, boyhood home, and the family treasure: the LBJ Ranch and the home that became known as the Texas White House. LBJ generously gifted these cherished assets to the people of the United States. Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park holds more assets significant to an American president than any other U.S. presidential site. Visitors may stroll through the Johnson Settlement, stepping back in time to the 1860s, when President Johnson's ancestors helped settle Johnson City, which was named after James Polk Johnson, nephew to LBJ's grandfather. The Boyhood Home and Visitor Center are located close to the Johnson Settlement, and visitors can tour the reconstructed Birthplace and enjoy a scenic drive through the LBJ Ranch before touring the Texas White House. This book illustrates the significance of LBJ's heritage and the circle of life represented by what is both a birthplace and a final resting place.

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